CN106470771B

CN106470771B - Conveying device with vacuum belt

Info

Publication number: CN106470771B
Application number: CN201580034696.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 弗朗切斯科·戴尔安迪切; 保罗·达尔奇尼
Original assignee: Qualysense AG
Current assignee: Iron Element Analysis And Sorting Co ltd
Priority date: 2014-06-30
Filing date: 2015-06-17
Publication date: 2020-03-17
Anticipated expiration: 2035-06-17
Also published as: EP3160876B1; US20170137227A1; ES2742431T3; WO2016000967A1; CN110227663A; CN106470771A; EP3527509A3; EP3527509A2; HUE046715T2; EP3527509C0; JP6688234B2; PL3527509T3; EP3527509B1; CN110227663B; EP3160876A1; JP2017523101A; DK3160876T3; US10124959B2

Abstract

A transport apparatus comprises an endless vacuum conveyor belt (310) having a plurality of perforations (311). The conveyor belt conveys the particles along a conveying direction (T) while the particles are sucked into the perforations, thereby defining a moving conveying surface (316). The conveying surface extends in a substantially vertical plane (x-z) and the conveying direction (T) is inclined upwards with respect to the horizontal direction (x). The inclined recovery tray (200) recovers the particles falling from the conveyor belt to the feeding area (150) by gravity alone. A separation wall (600) separates a processing region from a cleaning region of the apparatus. The conveyor belt interacts with an elongated vacuum box which is open along one side, which open side is covered by an elongated slide. The slide has a suction opening, the cross section of which varies along the transport direction (T).

Description

Conveying device with vacuum belt

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting particles. The apparatus comprises a vacuum conveyor belt, i.e. a conveyor belt with a plurality of holes (perforations) capable of applying a negative pressure. The apparatus may conveniently be used to classify particles into a plurality of quality classes.

Background

WO 2012/145850a1 discloses a sorting apparatus for sorting particles, such as grains or seeds, into two or more quality classes. The apparatus comprises a measuring device for determining at least one analytical property of the particle, the measuring device comprising a light source for illuminating the particle and a spectrometer for analyzing the spectral property of the particle. The classification device is operatively coupled to the measurement device and classifies the particles into a plurality of quality classes based on the analytical characteristics. The transport device transports the particles past the measuring device and to the sorting device. The conveying device comprises a vacuum conveyor belt, i.e. an endless perforated conveyor belt having a plurality of perforations, and a vacuum pump for applying a negative pressure to the perforations. The vacuum causes the particles fed to the conveying means to be sucked into the perforations and conveyed on the conveyor belt past the measuring means to the sorting means. The surface of the conveyor belt on which the particles are transported ("conveying surface") is directed downwards, i.e. the particles are transported "above", i.e. suspended from the conveyor belt rather than resting on top of the conveyor belt.

Feeding the particles to the vacuum conveyor is achieved by using a feed belt that receives the particles from the hopper and accelerates the particles toward the vacuum conveyor to assist in the aspiration of the particles into the perforations of the conveyor. The recovery duct receives particles that are not drawn into the perforations. From there, the granules are recycled to the hopper by means of a pump.

It can be seen that a disadvantage of this prior art apparatus is the complexity of the feed system and the recovery system, which leads to increased manufacturing and maintenance costs. Another disadvantage of this prior art design is that the drive components of the conveying means and the delicate components of the measuring means are exposed to dust which is inevitably associated with particles of natural origin, such as grains or seeds.

Disclosure of Invention

In a first aspect of the invention, it is an object of the invention to provide a conveyor apparatus with a vacuum conveyor belt, which conveyor apparatus achieves a simplified feeding, recycling and a better protection of selected parts of the apparatus from dust.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for transporting particles, the apparatus comprising:

an endless conveyor belt having a plurality of perforations along its length, the apparatus being configured to be capable of applying a negative pressure to the perforations to draw particles into the perforations, the conveyor belt being configured to convey particles in a conveying direction while being drawn into the perforations, thereby defining a movable conveying surface; and

a feeding device for feeding particles to the conveyor belt in a feeding area,

wherein the conveying surface extends in a substantially vertical plane, and

wherein the transport direction is inclined upwards with respect to the horizontal direction.

The apparatus may further comprise a source of negative pressure, in particular a vacuum pump, for applying a negative pressure to the perforations of the conveyor belt. To drive the conveyor belt to transport the particles in the transport direction, the apparatus may comprise a drive motor, for example an electric or pneumatic motor.

According to the invention, when the apparatus is used as intended, the part of the conveyor belt conveying the particles is oriented substantially vertically instead of horizontally, and the conveyor belt is arranged obliquely, i.e. at an angle to the horizontal plane, so that the particles move in an upwardly inclined direction. By selecting a substantially vertical orientation for the conveying surface, the particles can be fed to the conveyor belt in a simpler manner than in the prior art. In particular, the feed belt for accelerating the particles before they are sucked into the conveyor belt, as has been proposed in the prior art, can be omitted. Furthermore, the recovery of particles that are not properly sucked into the conveyor belt can be done in a simpler manner. In particular, since the conveyor belt moves the particles upwards at a certain inclination, the particles falling from the conveyor belt can be transported back to the feeding area by the action of gravity only. In addition, the substantially vertical orientation of the conveying surface enables a direct spatial separation between components that interact directly with particles, such as the feeding device or the component for sorting the particles, and components that do not need to be in close proximity to particles, such as the drive motor or the electronic circuit for the conveyor belt. A conveying surface is considered to extend in a substantially vertical plane if the angle between the surface normal to the conveying surface and a horizontal plane (defined perpendicular to the direction of gravity) is between-30 ° and +30 °, preferably between-10 ° and +10 °, most preferably between-5 ° and +5 °.

In order to accomplish the recovery of the particles falling from the conveyor belt outside the feeding area, the apparatus may comprise a recovery tray arranged below the conveying surface to collect the particles falling from the conveyor belt (from the conveying surface) outside the feeding area and to recover said particles by the action of gravity to the feeding area. The recovery tray may define one or more inclined sliding surfaces, wherein the collected particles may slide downwards on the one or more inclined sliding surfaces towards the feeding area. In particular, the recovery may take the form of a downwardly inclined chute that opens upwardly to receive particles falling from the conveyor belt. An actuator such as a pump or belt is not required to recover the particles.

In order to accomplish a particularly simple feeding operation, the feeding device may comprise a feeding chamber which defines a feeding area and has side wall portions formed by the conveyor belt. In other words, the feeding chamber may be partially delimited laterally, i.e. one of the two sides of the feeding device, by the conveyor belt. This arrangement is only possible because the conveyor belt is oriented vertically. The feed chamber may be tapered downwardly towards the conveyor belt to minimize the dead volume of the feed chamber.

In order to improve the separation between the components involved in the handling of the particles and which therefore should be in close proximity to the conveying surface and the components which may be arranged remote from the conveying surface, the apparatus may comprise a vertical partition wall defining a first side and a second side, the partition wall defining an elongated opening in which the conveying surface is arranged to point towards the first side of the partition wall. Thus, the partition wall forms a barrier between two different regions of the device. The first area on the first side of the partition wall is a "treatment area", in which, for example in the case of a device forming a sorting device, particles are transported and treated during measurement and sorting. This area may be exposed to a large amount of dust originating from the particles. The second area is the "clean area" that should be protected from dust. The conveyor belt and its drive components are generally arranged in a second zone ("cleaning zone"); however, the elongated opening in the partition wall provides access from the first area ("treatment area") to the part of the conveyor belt that serves as a moving transport surface for the particles. There may be additional openings providing connections for energy, data and media transfer between the first area and the second area. In particular, if the apparatus is configured as a sorting apparatus comprising a measuring device with a light source and a light detector, at least one of said light source and said light detector is preferably arranged in a "cleaning area" of the second side of the separating wall. On the other hand, if the apparatus comprises a container for receiving the particles after transport and/or sorting, said container will advantageously be arranged in the "treatment zone" of the first side of the partition wall. The device may comprise a housing for enclosing the first region and/or the second region.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a conveying apparatus comprising:

an endless conveyor belt having a plurality of perforations along its length, the conveyor belt being configured to convey particles in a conveying direction while the particles are drawn into the perforations, thereby defining a movable conveying surface;

an elongated vacuum box extending along a conveying direction, which vacuum box is open along one longitudinal side (not necessarily the transverse side) and which can be connected to a source of underpressure for applying underpressure to the vacuum box; and

an elongated slide covering said longitudinal sides of the vacuum box, the slide having a plurality of suction openings defining a free cross section varying along the conveying direction,

wherein the conveyor belt is slidably guided on the slide in the conveying direction such that the negative pressure in the vacuum box causes a negative pressure at the perforations of the conveyor belt and the negative pressure at the perforations is adjusted in the conveying direction in accordance with a free cross section defined by the suction opening of the slide.

In this way, the suction power of the conveyor belt can be easily adjusted. The free cross section (effective cross section) is the percentage of the total cross-sectional area of the suction openings in a particular region of the slide which is large enough to be able to accommodate a plurality of suction openings, relative to the total surface area of that region. If all the suction openings have the same size and the same spacing along the length of the slide, the free cross-section will be constant along the length of the slide. If all the suction openings have the same spacing, but the cross-sectional area increases or decreases along the length of the slide, the free cross-section will also increase or decrease. If all the suction openings have the same cross-sectional area, but the spacing decreases or increases along the length of the slide, the free cross-section will likewise vary. Of course, both the size and the spacing of the suction openings can be varied simultaneously to adjust the free cross-section.

The variation of the free cross-section of the suction openings along the conveying direction (by varying the size and/or spacing) is preferably equal to at least two times, more preferably equal to at least five times. In other words, the slider has a first region along its length in which the suction openings are more densely spaced and/or have a larger size than in a second region, the free cross-section formed in the first region being at least twice, more preferably at least five times larger than in the second region. In this way, a considerably significant regulation of the suction power can be achieved in a very simple manner.

In order to produce a smoothly continuously varying suction power over the length of the slide, it is preferred that the slide defines a longitudinal groove extending in the conveying direction, which longitudinal groove produces a clearance space between the conveyor belt and the portion of the slide provided with the suction opening. The slide may comprise two parallel longitudinal webs (i.e. longitudinal separation walls) defining a longitudinal groove, each web forming a contact surface for the conveyor belt. The clearance space enables a limited pressure equalization over the length of the slide.

The conveying means may comprise feeding means for feeding the particles to the conveyor belt in a feeding zone. The following is advantageous: the free cross-section defined by the suction openings is larger in the feed area than downstream of the feed area in the conveying direction in order to provide an increased level of underpressure (resulting in a greater suction power) in the feed area.

The slider may be provided with a blocking member arranged on the slider to cover (and close) selected suction openings of the slider. The blocking member may be arranged in the above mentioned longitudinal groove of the slider. In this way, the negative pressure at the perforations of the conveyor belt can be selectively reduced in the areas where particles are desired to fall from the conveyor belt. For example, if the apparatus is configured as a sorting device, it is desirable for the particles to fall from the conveyor belt at the end of the sorting zone.

The second aspect of the invention can easily be combined with the first aspect of the invention, i.e. the vacuum box and the slide according to the second aspect of the invention can easily be used in an apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention having a vertical conveying surface and an inclined conveying direction.

By using multiple conveyor belts, the conveying and sorting can be in parallel. To this end, the apparatus may comprise one or more further endless conveyor belts, all arranged parallel to each other and stacked one on top of the other with respect to the vertical direction. Each conveyor belt defines a movable conveying surface for conveying the particles along a conveying direction. The conveying surfaces are preferably substantially coplanar with each other. In this way, particles can be transported, analyzed and sorted simultaneously on a plurality of parallel conveyor belts. The plurality of conveyor belts may be driven by a common drive motor.

The apparatus may be complementary to other components to form a sorting apparatus for sorting particles into a plurality of quality classes. To this end, the apparatus may comprise one or more of:

at least one measuring device for determining at least one analytical property of the particles, the measuring device being arranged downstream of the feed region with respect to the conveying direction; and

a sorting device operatively coupled to the measuring device to sort the particles into at least two quality classes based on the analytical property, the sorting device being arranged downstream of the measuring device with respect to the conveying direction.

The measurement device may include one or more spectrometers, imaging spectrometers, cameras, mass spectrometers, acoustically tunable filters, etc. to analyze particles, such as grains, legumes or seeds, for their analytical characteristics. The present apparatus is capable of simultaneously assessing one or several analytical properties by measuring the spectral properties of the particles under analysis (i.e. in the case of a spectrometer, the correlation of specific optical properties such as reflectance or transmittance and wavelength). Additionally or alternatively, the measurement device may comprise a plurality of detectors configured to determine different analytical characteristics.

In a preferred embodiment, the analysis of the particles is performed by an optical instrument and the measuring means comprises at least one light source and at least one light detector. The term "light" should be understood to include all kinds of electromagnetic radiation from the far Infrared (IR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum to the far Ultraviolet (UV) or even to the X-ray region. The light source and the light detector may be arranged on different sides of the transport surface to emit light through the perforations, and the light detector may then be arranged to receive light transmitted through particles moving past the measurement device on the transport surface. In further embodiments, the light source and the light detector may be arranged on the same side of the transport surface (preferably on the side where the particles are transported), the light detector being arranged to receive light reflected from particles moving on the transport surface past the measurement device. In order to increase the production energy of the apparatus, the measuring device may comprise a plurality of light detectors arranged along a transverse direction extending transversely to the conveying direction to enable simultaneous measurement of the analytical properties of the particles moving past the measuring device in different transverse positions.

The light detector may comprise at least one spectrometer configured to record a spectrum received from particles moving through the measurement device. These spectra can then be analyzed to derive analytical characteristics from the spectra. In some embodiments, the light detector may comprise an imaging spectrometer configured to record spatially resolved spectra in different lateral positions of a particle moving through the measurement device. In this way, not only the spectral characteristics of the particles can be analyzed, but also geometrical characteristics such as size or shape. In further embodiments, the light detector may comprise a camera, in particular a line scan camera or a camera with a two-dimensional image sensor. This allows analysis of size and/or shape and/or color and/or fluorescence independently of other characteristics.

The measuring means may comprise processing means which assigns each individual particle to a quality class for subsequent classification based on one or more measurement variables. The processing means may thus control the sorting means. The processing means may comprise a computer executing a prediction and classification algorithm. If the measurement device comprises a spectrometer, the measurement variable received by the processing device from the spectrometer may comprise spectral data. If the measuring means comprises one or more cameras, the measured variables received by the processing means from the cameras may comprise image data.

Sorting may be performed in a variety of different ways, including pneumatic, piezoelectric, mechanical, gravity, and other types of sorting devices. For example, the sorting device may comprise at least one pneumatic jetting nozzle operatively coupled to the measuring device to generate an air flow for selectively blowing particles moving past the jetting nozzle away from the transport surface. The spray nozzles may be positioned on the opposite side of the transport surface to the side transporting the particles, thereby creating an air flow through the perforations. In other embodiments, the spray nozzles may generate a gas flow parallel to the transport surface and transverse to the transport direction to blow the particles away from the transport surface in the transverse direction.

Types of particles that can be transported and sorted using such equipment include, but are not limited to: crop grains such as seeds or grains of cereals, legumes, cereals such as wheat, barley, oats, rice, maize or sorghum; soy, cocoa, and coffee, among others. The types of analytical properties that can be evaluated are as follows, but are not limited to: chemical or biochemical properties, degree of contamination under contaminating and/or infectious agents and/or other pathogenic agents, and/or geometric and organoleptic properties such as size, shape, and color. In particular, biochemical properties are to be understood as properties reflecting the structure, composition and chemical reactions of substances in living organisms. Biochemical characteristics include, but are not limited to: protein content, oil content, sugar content and/or amino acid content, moisture content, polysaccharide content, in particular starch content or gluten content, fat or oil content, antioxidant content, vitamin content, or the content of specific biochemical or chemical markers known in the art, such as chemical degradation markers. The contamination or infection agent comprises harmful chemicals and microorganisms that can cause a consumer to become sick and includes, but is not limited to, bactericides, herbicides, insecticides, pathogen agents, bacteria, and fungi.

Drawings

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention and are not for the purpose of limiting the invention. In the drawings, there is shown in the drawings,

figure 1 shows a first embodiment of a sorting device;

fig. 2 shows a part of the sorting device in fig. 1 in an isometric view;

fig. 3 shows a part of the sorting device in fig. 1 in a front view;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the manner in which particles are fed and recovered;

fig. 5 shows a conveying unit of the sorting device in fig. 1;

FIG. 6 shows a slide for use with the delivery unit of FIG. 5;

fig. 7 shows an enlarged section through the slide and the conveyor belt in fig. 6 along the plane VII-VII in fig. 8;

FIG. 8 shows an enlarged view of the proximal and distal portions of the slider of FIG. 6 with the blocking member positioned over some of the suction openings;

fig. 9 to 10 show the delivery unit and the partition wall in fig. 5;

FIG. 11 shows a detailed view of the sorting apparatus;

figure 12 shows a second embodiment of a sorting device;

figure 13 shows a third embodiment of a sorting device; and

fig. 14 shows a feeding device for the second and third embodiments.

Detailed Description

A first embodiment of a sorting apparatus employing a conveying mechanism according to the present invention is illustrated in fig. 1 to 11. Referring first to fig. 1 to 3, fig. 1 to 3 show various parts of a sorting apparatus in different views.

The sorting apparatus comprises a conveyor arrangement comprising a vacuum conveyor belt 310 the conveyor belt 310 has a portion for conveying particles from the feed arrangement 100 to the sorting apparatus 500 along a conveying direction T (see fig. 2 and 3) which defines a conveying surface the conveying surface is vertically oriented, i.e. the conveying surface extends in a vertical plane x-z as best shown in fig. 3 the conveying direction T is inclined by an angle α with respect to a horizontal plane (x-y plane) in this example the angle α is about 45 °.

The feeding device 100 feeds the particles to a conveyor belt 310. The feeding device 100 comprises a hopper 110 (shown only in fig. 2 and 3), into which hopper 110 the granules to be sorted are filled in the form of a pile. The particles thus pass through the hopper 120 into the feed chamber 130. The feed chamber 130 is bounded on one side by a moving conveyor belt 310.

The particles can be removed from the feed chamber 130 by means of an exit chute 140.

As is clear from the schematic view of fig. 4, the conveyor belt 310 has a plurality of perforations (through holes) 311, the plurality of perforations 311 being arranged at regular intervals along the length of the belt (i.e., along the conveying direction T). As will be explained in more detail below, the perforations 311 are subjected to a negative pressure (vacuum). The particles 312 entering the feeding chamber 130 reach the conveyor belt 310 in the feeding zone 150 and are sucked (sucked) to the perforations 311 by the effect of the negative pressure. The sucked particles are transported by the conveyor belt in a transport direction T. Thus, the particles will be transported in well-defined locations defined by the perforations, which are typically smaller than the smallest dimension of the particles to avoid the particles passing through the perforations.

Ideally, exactly one particle is sucked into each perforation. However, it may happen that a second particle sticks into the same perforation as another particle. Such additional particles are separated from the conveyor belt 310 by separators (skimmers) 313, 314, 315, which separators 313, 314, 315 allow only one particle to pass through at a time. Each separator may comprise, for example, a solid block of material, a sponge, a brush, a thin blade, a nozzle that generates a sharp, limited air flow ("air vane"), or the like. In addition, the separator may be configured to force particles remaining attached to the conveyor belt to assume a predetermined orientation. In particular, as in the case of many grains, the particles may be of a generally elliptical shape having a long axis. In this case, the separator may be configured to cause the particles to adopt an orientation along their long axis substantially parallel to the transport direction T. To this end, the separator may have an adjustable lateral distance (distance perpendicular to the conveying direction) so as to be able to adjust the distance to be smaller than the typical length of the long axis of the particles but larger than the typical length of the short axis. At least one of the separators, here separator 313, may have a guide surface inclined with respect to the transport direction for guiding the particles into their desired orientation.

Particles that have been separated by the separator and particles that have fallen from the belt for other reasons are collected by a recovery tray 200 in the form of an upwardly open inclined chute. The recovery tray 200 is inclined with respect to the horizontal direction. The lower end of the recovery tray opens into the feed zone (i.e., into the feed chamber 130). In the present example, the recovery tray 200 defines two adjacent sliding

surfaces

211, 212 of different inclination, the particles being able to slide downwards on the sliding

surfaces

211, 212. Thus, the particles entering the recovery tray slide down the recovery tray by gravity and re-enter the feed area without any active actuation.

Referring again to fig. 1-3, the conveyor belt 310 transports those particles that remain aspirated into the perforations of the conveyor belt past the camera 440 and the illumination box 420. The illumination box 420 and the camera 440 are part of a measurement device 400, the measurement device 400 further comprising one or more NIR light sources 410, which are well known, and an NIR spectrometer 430, which is also well known. The optical fibers 411, 431 guide light emitted by the NIR light source(s) 410 to the illumination box 420 and transmit light reflected back from the particles to the NIR spectrometer 430. To increase the amount of detected signal, the illumination box 420 may contain a focusing, imaging or directing system, such as, for example, lenses, mirrors, collimators, optical fibers or a combination of these elements, to concentrate the light source radiation onto the particle and to collect the signal emitted, reflected, scattered or transmitted by the particle towards the spectrometer. These elements are not shown in the drawings because they are well known in the relevant optical arts. In this example, the light used to illuminate the particles is guided by one or more optical fibers ("cold light sources"). In other embodiments, it is contemplated that the particles are irradiated without the use of optical fibers ("direct irradiation"). The NIR spectrometer 430 records an NIR spectrum of the reflected light. These spectra are analyzed by a processing device comprising a computer, which may be included in the same housing as spectrometer 430 or in a different housing (even at a different location), and which may conceptually be considered part of the measurement device. Optionally, the processing device may also receive images recorded by the camera 440, and the analysis may additionally take these images into account. As a result of the analysis, the processing means determines the quality class to which each particle belongs and sends an associated control signal to the sorting means 500.

Other measurement devices may be used in place of the NIR light source and the NIR spectrometer. More generally, the measurement device 400 may include one or more spectrometers, imaging spectrometers, cameras, mass spectrometers, acoustically tunable filters, and the like to analyze particles, such as grains, legumes, or seeds, for analytical characteristics of the particles. The present device is capable of simultaneously assessing one or several analytical properties by measuring the spectral properties (i.e. the correlation of specific optical properties such as reflectivity or transmissivity and wavelength) of the particles under analysis.

After having passed the measuring device 400, the particles arrive at the sorting device 500. The sorting device 500 is operatively coupled to the measuring device 400, receiving control signals from the measuring device 400. In this example, the sorting apparatus 500 sorts the particles into three quality classes. For each quality class, a

container

510, 520 and 530 is provided, respectively.

Tubular conduits

512, 522 and 532 connect the sorting device to the container. The sorting device will be described in more detail further below in connection with fig. 11.

Fig. 5-8 illustrate the delivery device 300 in more detail. The conveyor belt 310 is diverted at both ends by diverting pulleys 312. The conveyor belt 310 is driven by a drive motor 320 via a drive belt 321. A vacuum box 330 is disposed between the steering pulleys 312. The vacuum box 330 is laterally open at one of its longitudinal sides towards the portion of the conveyor belt 310 forming the conveying surface 316. The vacuum boxes are connected to a manifold 340 via a plurality of vacuum pipes 331, the manifold 340 taking the form of a hollow elongated cylinder. The manifold has at one end thereof a vacuum connector 341 for connection of a vacuum pump 360 (only illustrated in a highly schematic manner in fig. 1). The slider 350, which is shown in fig. 6 to 8 by itself, covers the laterally open side of the vacuum box 330. The conveyor belt 310 is guided on a slide 350 by means of a pair of guide rails 353, the guide rails 353 enclosing the belt on both sides. The slider comprises a plurality of

suction openings

351, 352. In this example, there are two different sizes of suction openings: a small circular hole 351 and a larger elongated hole 352, the long axis of the larger elongated hole 352 extending in the conveying direction and having a larger cross section than the small hole 351. The holes are distributed at substantially regular intervals along the conveying direction (i.e. along the length of the slide).

As can best be seen in the sectional view of fig. 7, a longitudinal groove 354 of width d1 is arranged between the conveyor belt 310 and the wall portion of the slide provided with the suction opening (having width d 2). The longitudinal groove 354 is bounded on two sides by longitudinal webs 357, the longitudinal webs 357 forming contact surfaces for the bottom surface of the conveyor belt 310. Longitudinal groove 354 extends along the entire length of slider 350 (or at least along a length that includes a plurality of openings) and has a height h. Thus, the longitudinal grooves 354 leave a gap h between the conveyor belt 310 and the

suction openings

351, 352. The cross-sectional area of the longitudinal groove 354 relative to the longitudinal direction (equal to the product h x d1) is sufficiently large to allow a degree of local pressure equalization along the length of the groove when negative pressure is applied to the vacuum box 330, but too small to allow global pressure equalization over the entire length of the slider. In this way, the amount of negative pressure experienced by the bottom face of the conveyor belt 310 (and therefore by the perforations 311 of the conveyor belt) varies smoothly along the length of the slider 350 according to the section of the suction opening of the slider: the portion of the belt near the larger opening 312 is subjected to a greater amount of negative pressure (higher suction power) than the portion of the belt near the smaller opening 311.

The portion of the slide containing the larger opening 312 will advantageously be arranged in the feed area 350 in order to provide increased suction power in this area.

In the present example, typical dimensions of the longitudinal grooves 354 may be selected as follows: d 1-4 mm, h-3 mm, making the cross-sectional area of the groove 354 12mm². The size of the holes can be chosen as follows: the diameter d1 of the small hole is 3mm (the section is about 7 mm)²) The width of the long hole is 4mm, and the length of the long hole is 30mm (the section is about 120 mm)²). Of course, different dimensions may be selected as desired.

Longitudinal grooves 356 on the outside of the sides of web 357 reduce the width of the contact surface to minimize friction between the bottom surface of the belt and the slider. The guide 353 has a hook-shaped cross-section to retain the strap on the slider.

As illustrated in fig. 8, some suction openings may be covered by a blocking member 358 in the form of an elongated cube, which blocking member 358 partially or completely fills the longitudinal groove 354 and thus blocks the corresponding hole. In this way, the suction power can be minimized for the portions of the conveyor belt 310 that do not require suction, in particular at the ends of the sorting device 350.

If the conveyor belt has more than one row of perforations, for example two or more parallel rows extending in the conveying direction, the design of the slide can easily be adapted to the perforations of these rows. In particular, one or more additional rows of suction openings parallel to the first row may be provided along the length of the slide. A longitudinal groove can then be arranged between the conveyor belt and each wall portion of the slide provided with suction openings. Each longitudinal groove may be defined by a longitudinal web.

Returning to fig. 1, a vertical dividing wall 600 separates two different areas of the sorting apparatus. A first region, which may be referred to as a process region, is disposed at the first side a of the partition wall 600. In which zone the transport and handling of the particles is performed. In particular, in this area there are arranged a feeding device 100, a recovery tray 200, a camera 440, an illumination box 420 and a sorting device 500. A second area, which may be referred to as a cleaning area, is disposed at the second side B of the partition wall 600. In this area, delicate components are arranged, including the NIR light source 410, the spectrometer 430, drive components for the transport device 300, etc., which should be kept away from dust and dirt. The partition wall acts as a barrier to dust and dirt between the first and second regions. The sorting device further comprises a casing 700 (shown only in a highly schematic way by means of dashed lines), which casing 700 delimits these areas towards the environment, thus forming two substantially closed spaces which are well separated from each other. The housing may of course have access openings to provide access to the

containers

510, 520, 530 and other components of the apparatus, which access openings may be closed by suitable means such as doors or removable lids.

Fig. 9 and 10 illustrate how the conveyor belt 310 is arranged in the elongated opening 601 of the partition wall 600 to provide access to the conveying surface 316 from the first side a, while the rest of the conveying means, including the diverting pulleys, the drive motor 320, the drive belt 321, the manifold 340, etc., are arranged at the second side B of the partition wall 600.

Sorting may be performed in a variety of different ways including pneumatic, piezoelectric, mechanical and other types of sorting devices. For example, the sorting device 500 may comprise at least one pneumatic spray nozzle (pressurized air nozzle) operatively coupled to the measuring device to generate an air flow for selectively blowing particles moving through the spray nozzle away from the transport surface. The spray nozzles may be positioned on the opposite side of the conveying surface to the side on which the particles are conveyed, thereby creating an air flow through the perforations, or the spray nozzles may be positioned on the same side as the side on which the particles are conveyed, e.g. on the side of a conveyor belt, thereby creating an air flow across the conveying surface.

Fig. 11 illustrates a preferred sorting apparatus 500. Particles on the conveyor belt 310 enter the sorting apparatus from the right. The particles first enter a first sorting bin 511, the first sorting bin 511 being connected to a first container 510 via a first conduit 512. If the particles have been identified by the measuring device 400 as belonging to the first quality class, a first pressurized air nozzle 541 connected to the distributor box 540 is activated by means of a valve in the distributor box, thereby blowing the particles off the conveyor belt and down into the first conduit 512, from which first conduit 512 the particles reach the first container 510. Otherwise, the particles will continue to be transported by the conveyor belt into the second sort bin 512. If the particles have been identified by the measuring device 400 as belonging to the second quality class, the second air nozzle 542 is activated, thereby blowing the particles off the conveyor belt and down into the second conduit 522, from where they pass to the second container 520. Otherwise, the particles will continue to be transported by the conveyor and will enter the third sort bin 513. The third sort bin 531 contains a diverter plate 543 which diverts any particles entering the third sort bin 531 downwardly into a third duct 531 from which the particles pass to the third container 530. The arrangement of the blocking member 354 (fig. 8) on the slide 350 in the region of the third sorting bin 531 is to minimize the suction power of the conveyor belt in this region.

Of course, the particles can be classified into more or less than three quality classes by providing more or less air nozzles. Any other means for selectively removing particles from the conveyor belt may be used instead of the pressurized air nozzle, such as piezoelectric means, magnetic means, moving flaps or any other means that can be activated and controlled by the measuring means.

In an alternative embodiment, the perforations of the conveyor belt may be arranged in a plurality of parallel rows extending in the conveying direction. In this way, a plurality of particles can be moved simultaneously past the measuring device in well-defined positions. The lateral distance between the rows is preferably slightly larger than the largest (average) size of the particles to avoid overlapping of the particles. The perforations of adjacent rows may be arranged in the same position along the conveying direction, such that the perforations form a rectangular grid on the conveying surface, or the perforations may be arranged in different positions along the conveying direction, such that the perforations form an inclined grid or even an irregular arrangement.

Additionally or alternatively, a plurality of parallel conveyor belts can be arranged side by side. Fig. 12 illustrates such an embodiment, wherein a plurality of

parallel conveyor belts

310, 310 ', 310 "' are used. All of the conveyor belts are arranged in a parallel configuration and the respective conveying surfaces 316, 316', etc. of the conveyor belts are coplanar. The belts are all driven by a common drive motor 550. Each conveyor belt defines two parallel longitudinal rows of perforations. In this way, particles can be transported, analyzed and sorted simultaneously in eight parallel rows. The particles are fed to four conveyors by a common feeding means, for which an example is illustrated in more detail in fig. 1. Each conveyor belt is associated with a recovery tray 200 arranged directly below the respective conveyor belt. Each recovery tray is designed as described above in connection with the first embodiment. Each conveyor belt is associated with a separate camera 440 and a separate illumination box 420. The common sorting apparatus 500' is used to sort the particles into a plurality of quality classes according to the same principle as described in connection with the first embodiment.

Fig. 13 shows an alternative third embodiment with a plurality of parallel conveyor belts. In this embodiment, a common camera unit 440 'and a common illumination box 420' are provided for all the conveyor belts.

Fig. 14 illustrates a feeding device that may be used with the second embodiment or the third embodiment. The particles are fed from a common hopper 120 into a plurality of conduits 121.

Each conduit terminates at a feed chamber 130, the feed chamber 130 being defined on one side by a conveyor belt. The separating plates, which are inclined downwards towards the respective conveyor belt and extend parallel to the outer wall 131 of the feeding chamber 130, will separate the particles sucked into the upper row of perforations of each conveyor belt from the particles sucked into the lower row.

Obviously, numerous modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, the number of rows of perforations present in the conveyor belt may be different from one or both. More or less than four belts may be arranged in parallel. The conveying direction defined by the conveyor belt(s) may have an inclination with respect to the horizontal direction that differs from the inclination in the above-described examples. Different kinds of measuring devices based on different detection principles may be used as long as the measuring devices are able to distinguish the quality classes. For further considerations regarding the measuring device, reference is made to WO 2012/145850a1, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Reference numerals

100 feed device 354 blocking member

110 hopper 360 vacuum pump

120 funnel 400 measuring device

130 feed chamber 410 NIR light source

411 pipe with 131 outer wall

132 splitter plate 412 illumination fibers

140 outlet chute 420 illumination box

150 feed area 430 NIR spectrometer

200 recovery disk 440 camera

211. 212 sliding surface 500 sorting device

300

transport device

510, 520, 530 container

310

conveyor

511, 521, 531 receiving box

311

perforation

512, 522, 532 catheter

312 wheeled 540 dispenser box

313

separator

541, 542 spray nozzle

314 separator 543 diverter plate

315 separator 550 belt motor

316 transport surface 600 divider wall

320 drive motor 601 elongated opening

321 drive belt 700 housing

330 vacuum box A first side

331 second side of conduit B

340 angle of inclination of header A

341 vacuum connector X, Y horizontal direction

342 support z vertical direction

350 sliding part

351 suction opening

352 suction opening

353 guide rail

Claims

1. An apparatus for transporting particles (312), the apparatus comprising:

an endless conveyor belt (310), said endless conveyor belt (310) having a plurality of perforations (311) along a length of said endless conveyor belt (310), said apparatus being configured to be capable of applying negative pressure to said perforations (311) to draw said particles (312) into said perforations (311), said endless conveyor belt (310) being configured to convey said particles (312) along a conveying direction (T) while said particles (312) are drawn into said perforations (311), thereby defining a movable conveying surface (316); and

a feeding device (100), the feeding device (100) being adapted to feed the particles (312) to the endless conveyor (310) in a feeding area (150),

characterized in that the conveying surface (316) extends in a substantially vertical plane, the portion of the endless conveyor (310) on which the particles (312) are conveyed being substantially vertically oriented, the endless conveyor (310) being arranged obliquely and at an angle to the horizontal plane to move the particles in an upwardly inclined direction,

the apparatus further comprises an inclined retrieval tray (200), the retrieval tray (200) being arranged below the transport surface (316) to collect particles (312) falling from the endless conveyor belt (310) out of the feeding area (150) and to retrieve the particles (312) to the feeding area (150) by the action of gravity.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said feeding device (100) comprises a feeding chamber (130), said feeding chamber (130) having a side wall portion formed by said endless conveyor (310).

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a vertical partition wall (600) defining a first side (a) and a second side (B), the partition wall defining an elongated opening (601), the conveying surface (316) being arranged in the elongated opening (601) directed towards the first side (a) of the partition wall (600).

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a drive motor (320) for driving the endless conveyor belt (310), the drive motor (320) being arranged on the second side (B) of the partition wall (600).

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a negative pressure source (360) for applying a negative pressure to the perforations (311) of the endless conveyor (310).

6. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

an elongated vacuum box (330) extending along the conveying direction (T), the vacuum box (330) being open along one longitudinal side and connectable to a negative pressure source (360) for applying a negative pressure to the vacuum box (330); and

an elongated slide (350), the elongated slide (350) covering the longitudinal sides of the vacuum box (330), the elongated slide (350) being provided with a plurality of suction openings (351, 352), the suction openings (351, 352) defining a free cross section that varies along the conveying direction (T),

wherein the endless conveyor belt (310) is slidably guided on the elongated slide (350) along the conveying direction (T) such that a negative pressure in the vacuum box (330) causes a negative pressure at the perforations (311) of the endless conveyor belt (310), the negative pressure at the perforations (311) being adjusted along the conveying direction (T) according to the free cross-section defined by the suction openings (351, 352) of the elongated slide (350).

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the elongated slide (350) defines a longitudinal groove (354) extending along the transport direction (T), the longitudinal groove (354) creating a clearance space between the endless conveyor belt (310) and a slide portion provided with the suction opening (351, 352).

8. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a blocking member (358) arranged on the elongated slider (350) to cover selected suction openings (351, 352) of the elongated slider (350).

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising feeding means (100) for feeding particles to the endless conveyor (310) in a feeding zone (150), wherein the free cross section defined by the suction openings (351, 352) is larger in the feeding zone (150) than downstream of the feeding zone (150) along the conveying direction (T).

10. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

at least one measuring device (400) for determining at least one analytical property of the particles, the measuring device (400) being arranged downstream of the feed region (150) with respect to the transport direction (T); and

a sorting device (500), the sorting device (500) being operatively coupled to the measuring device (400) for sorting the particles (312) into at least two quality classes based on the analytical property, the sorting device (500) being arranged downstream of the measuring device (400) with respect to the conveying direction (T).

11. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a plurality of endless conveyors (310, 310 ', 310 "') arranged parallel to each other, each endless conveyor defining a movable conveying surface for conveying the particles along the conveying direction, the conveying surfaces being substantially coplanar with each other.